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Photos from 1st MTB Nationals

I saw a couple photos from the 1st NORBA Nationals, outside Santa Barbara, on Facebook a couple days ago. Gene Maruszewski posted them on his Facebook page and tagged me. There aren’t that many photos around from that race. At least, not many photos that have been downloaded/turned digital.

I don’t really remember many spectators at the race. The conditions weren’t conducive for cameras. It was raining cats and dogs.

It was just Roy Knickman and myself from the Raleigh Team. Kent Eriksen, who owns Moots, built us a couple bikes the week before and Alexi Grewal flew them out to us. He ended up wearing our jersey too for the race. I think I was fortunate winning the race. It could have gone any which way.

Anyway, I guess I realized that all the guys in the photo below, rode the race, but didn’t really know that they were all riding for Tom Ritchey. That was a pretty stellar line-up. Pretty great photo.

Yeah, more riders than spectators by a long shot that day. Those of us who were good at wallowing in the mud did better than the rest. I think Heiden and that group beat me to the top of the hill by 3-5 minutes the first lap. I passed a group of 4 of them getting squirrelly on the slippery tight single track only maybe 1/2 mile down from the top.

Roy was amazing that day. He was in second at the start of the second lap and rode an entire lap of the course with a flat (two flats?) before I overtook him for third.

One of the better days in my life, always good to take a walk down memory lane. Thanks! j